


The Bookstore

by derp2lol (Ihere)



Series: PoliceForcestuck [10]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Crime Fighting, F/M, Gen, Murder, schemes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-10
Updated: 2012-07-07
Packaged: 2017-11-07 10:25:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 10,443
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/430015
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ihere/pseuds/derp2lol
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Officers Harley and Vantas must investigate a corpse in a bookstore that Rose works at. With no clues will they be able to find out what happened?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One

Officer Vantas sips his fresh coffee inside the police department, and then he spits it out. “Damn it Gamzee!”

His partner, Officer Harley laughs at his misfortune, “Another bad batch Karkat?”

The troll grumbles, “I thought I told him to buy a new coffee maker!” He dumps the liquid into a nearby trash can.

“You did, I guess he forgot,” she presumes. Karkat gets out of his chair. “Going to get another cup from here?”

“Yeah you want anything Jade?” he offers.

“No, but if you could hand me the document over the Beoma case, then that would be great.” Karkat grabs the file on his desks and passes it Jade. She thanks him as he walks away for some better coffee.

Jade looks over the file sighing, it has been a week since Aradia was saved, and things are just starting to go back to normal. They’ve been handling traffic jams, served speeding tickets, worked crowd control when Aradia was released from the hospital, and filed reports of course. Sadly her two closes co-workers are acting differently. Jade recognizes that Karkat must feel differently towards his boss; keeping that kind of secret really changes the outlook of someone. When her boss Chief Zahhak returned to work two days after the break out, well things were a little awkward around them. Karkat would never reveal in public the affair because the chief already has his strange blood color on him. As for Jade, she really isn’t the type to use black mail, but it still worries the chief to this day. 

As for Jade’s other co-worker, she has been acting out of it. Vriska hasn’t had the same perky attitude since Aradia mentioned John. However the good news is Vriska is slowly recovering and getting over the whole ordeal, but someday Jade would like to know Vriska’s story that freaked her out so. 

Speaking of Vriska, it is getting close to ‘checking in’ time for her. Officers Harley and Vantas came over early to get some late paper work done. 

Jade looks at her watch figuring Vriska only has six minutes before she is late. The human requested that the spider troll tries to come in on time, but every time Vriska claims something kept her behind. Jade sighs, there’s only so much control she has over Vriska; especially with the control that troll has over the chief.

Karkat returns with his coffee, “How far are we?” Jade does a quick count of the files.

“We got almost a dozen more.”

Officer Vantas groans, “You’re kidding me. Why the fuck does this department need so much paperwork?”

Jade gives a light laugh, “It’s important for the organization of Skaia’s law enforcers. Don’t want to end up arresting the wrong person or something.”

The troll gives her a look, “What did you read that out of the fucking manual?”

“Some of us remember the manual from our training days,” she retorts. “Also you probably shouldn’t swear in here.”

“There’s hardly anyone around us, and like I give a fuck anyways,” Karkat says. He looks at his partner with some new interest, “How old are you?”

Jade continues to look over her paperwork, “Wow Karkat, you’re asking a woman how old she is. Are you going to ask me my weight next?”

“Like you’re old or fat,” he argues. “I just want to know. You came directly to Skaia after graduating from the academy right?”

“Yeah,” the woman looks around and abandons her papers, “I’m twenty-one.”

Karkat laughs disbelieving, “Wait seriously?” The troll sees Jade’s purse nearby so he quickly steals it.

“Hey that’s mine!”

“Calm down Jade,” Karkat says rummaging through her bag, “I just want to see your law enforcement license.” 

Jade starts to freak out, “No don’t!”

The troll continues to laugh, “I think the theory of the new recruits’ photo is still accurate. We used to have a joke with my fellow classmates that the younger you are when the photo is taken, the worse it is. Dang Harley you have a lot of shit here.” Jade tries to steal the bag back, but Karkat keeps it out of her reach, “Found it!” He grabs the wallet out and opens it. “Oh fuck Jade what?”

Jade steals the wallet back, “My friend told me it would look natural!” On the license is a very orange-ly tanned Jade Harley.

“Dear Grub you- hahaha!” Karkat laughs at his partner; while Jade covers her face in shame.

“It was a mistake!”

“Pst, hey Jade,” a lispy troll calls from another desk, “Want to see Karkat’s first photo?”

Karkat remains calm, “Nice try Sollux, I burned the thing as soon as I got another one renewed.”

Officer Captor is unfazed, “I pulled it up in the police archives, I’m looking at it now.” Karkat turns red and finds Jade already running towards the computer. Her partner tries to stop her, but she’s too fast.

“Oh God Karkat! Is that eyeliner?”

Karkat drops his face onto his desk, “It was a fucking phase.”

Officer Harley and Captor are looking at a young emo Officer Vantas. “I think it looks a little cute,” Jade says to comfort him.

“Lies.”

Then Vriska bursts into the room huffing, “I’m in!”

Jade checks the clock, “Vriska you’re on time!” The human runs up to her friend to give a hug.

“Personal space Jade,” Vriska commands. Officer Harley backs off smiling.

“I’m just so proud of you. No one thought you could do it!”

“Yeah first time in your whole career,” Karkat mutters into his desk.

Jade pulls Vriska’s arm towards Sollux’s desk, “I have to show you this picture of Karkat.”

But before the spider troll could consent, the secretary, Kanaya rushes in panicking, “Everyone please come outside immediately.” All officers run outside the department.

Outside of the department on the road is an adult troll lying on his back. He doesn’t move but he makes a few moans on the ground. Officer Harley and Vantas rush forward urging everyone else to stay back to give him air. The duo carefully turns the troll to his back having Jade hold his head up in support. 

Karkat finds the troll’s symbol allowing him to discover this troll to be a brown blood. “What’s your name?” he asks.

The troll moans a little, “Ta-Tav-Tavros . . Nitram.”

“Do you know what happened to you?” 

“Uh . . I think . . a ca-car hit me.”

“Did you see the car?”

“N- Not really. I uh don’t th-think I rem-ember. But I sa-saw the driver.” Tavros squirms a little but Jade holds him tight. “I uh don’t think I can feel my legs.”

“Yeah that’ll happen,” Karkat says. Jade shoots him a disapproving look, “What?” He turns back to the victim, “What did the driver look like?”

“A sh-she I think. Also a troll.” The two officer share an unhappy look because the perpetrator is obvious to them already. “Oh and she had this ho-horrible eye!”

Karkat turns to the crowd, “Vriska get over here.” Vriska steps forwards shocked.

“What you don’t think that I di-“

“Get over here now Vriska,” Jade orders not amused. Vriska slowly walks over, and Karkat has her kneel next to him over Tavros.

“Is this her?” Karkat ask.

“I-I think so.”

Jade sighs, “Vriska.”

“What?” she says, “You wanted me to be on time.”

“Yes, but I didn’t want you to nearly kill someone in the process!”

“Well be more specific next time!”

“Fucking damn it Vriska!” Karkat yells, “You think there’s going to be a next time? You’ll get jail time for this, or he’ll sue the entire department!”

Vriska panics realizing what that would mean to her. She tries to think fast, “Uh hm.” She quickly brings a hand to her head before Jade or Karkat could stop her.

Tavros throws his own hand up to grab Vriska’s boob.

“Thank grub his hands and arms still work” she mutters. She turns back to the crowd of officers and a few pedestrians, “There! He grabbed my boob, sexual assault! You all saw it!” The officers on the sidelines mutter in confusion to their selves. 

“W-What?” Tavros cries, “but I didn’t-“ Vriska throws a hand over his mouth.

“The damage has already been done you pervert. I hope you’re happy you sick fuck, I’m an engaged troll!” Tavros looks like he’s about to cry.

“Vriska, that’s not what you’re supposed to do,” Karkat shouts besides her. “You fucking ran him over!” Jade shakes her head unable to comprehend this entire incident.

The spider troll rolls her eyes. She then leans over to Tavros and whispers “You’re going to drop all charges right?”

He is really scared right now and would have craped his pants if he hadn’t already during the accident, “But you ra-“

She stares him down with her seven pupil eye, “Listen, who you think the fucking court will listen to? The sexually abused blue blood? Or an accidentally ran over brown blood?”

Tavros looks at her and soon turns his head up to look at Jade, “I think that I’m uh going to drop all charges now.” Vriska backs up and smiles at Karkat. 

Officer Vantas drags the spider troll away from the victim. He turns to the crowd and tells them to get lost. Jade carefully sets Tavros’s head down and joins her companions. 

“Vriska that was a fucking dirty move,” Karkat nags.

“Soooooooo? It’s over now, case closed,” she counters.

Vriska tries to leave, but Karkat grabs her by the shoulder and spins her around, “Oh no, you’re not getting out of this one.”

“What do you mean?”

“What I mean is for the next week you are going to help Tavros adjust while he recovers.”

Vriska is flabbergasted, “No way am I going to do that. I’ll talk to Eq-“

“I’m technically your boss, so no,” he interrupts. “You are not threatening the chief on this. You need to learn your lesson.”

“What!” She turns to Jade, “Come on he’s crazy!”

Officer Harley looks back and forth at her coworkers, “Vriska, I’m siding on Karkat with this one.”

Vriska stares at the human feeling betrayed. Karkat pulls her to Tavros who is still lying on the floor. An ambulance comes by the building to pick him up, and the medics carefully 

lift him from the ground. In the stretcher, Karkat explains what’s going to happen to Tavros now, “Vriska here is going to care for you for a week. You just tell her what to do, and she better do it. If she doesn’t or you have any problems with her, then call the police and I’ll deal with her.”

“Uh wait what if I don’t want her to-“

“Don’t care,” the officer interposes. He then pushes Vriska into the ambulance, “Have fun you two.” And with that the ambulance drives off to the hospital. 

Both officers return to their desk already too exhausted to finish their draining paperwork. 

When the time came for lunch, and the two were discussing food options, a woman walks into the department. As the only remaining officers, Karkat and Jade walk up to the woman. 

Kanaya paces in slightly annoyed, “Sorry Mr. Vantas and Ms. Harley, she just barged in. I tried to tell her that she needed to arrange an appointment with me, but she just wouldn’t listen.”

“That’s alright Kanaya,” Jade assures waving her away.

The woman pushes her short blonde hair behind her ear. She’s a nicely dressed woman with a light purple top and a black skirt. “Excuse me,” she starts, “I need the police’s help.”

Jade gives a little giggle, “Well you’ve certainly have come to the right place. Now what do you need?”

The woman returns a small smile, “Indeed I have, and well . . . there’s a corpse in the bookstore that I work at.”


	2. Chapter Two

Officers Harley and Vantas drive the cop car towards the bookstore. The woman who came to them sits in the back and calls herself Ms. Lalonde. While Karkat steers the car, Jade gets the background information from Ms. Lalonde. 

“When did you discover the body?”

The young woman sits properly in the back crossing her legs, “Around fifteen minutes ago, I tried to get here as fast as I could.”

Jade jots down on the note pad, “I kind of wish we still had Vriska for this.”

“She needs to learn her lesson, Harley,” the troll mutters focusing on the road.

“Anyway,” Officer Harley turns back to the civilian, “What’s your position at the bookstore?”

Ms. Lalonde shifts her legs, “I’m interning as a cashier there and I was the only one working there when I found the body.”

“Awesome,” Jade continues to scribble on the small piece of paper. “Now was there anyone else in the library? They could be possible witnesses.”

“Well,” Ms. Lalonde fiddles her fingers, “I have reading assignments that I do during work. I was reading a text book for my Psychology class, so sadly I am pointless to provide details about who was there.”

Officer Harley frowns, “Could you name or recognize anyone at all?”

The other woman shakes her head, “Only a few and they came up to me. That’s not really something a murderer would do to stay inconspicuous. Besides, we have many who just come and go to read like it’s a library.”

“Hmm,” Jade ponders, “well give me the names anyways. We might need them!” Ms. Lalonde appears concerned but she presents Jade with a few names. 

The officers and the civilian arrive at the bookstore with the woman named Ms. Lalonde in the cop car. Ms. Lalonde gets out of the car saying she’ll unlock the bookstore; while the officers notice something unnerving. 

“Karkat,” Jade whispers, “Isn’t this . . .”

“Yeah, we’re in Felt Territory again,” he says under his breath. “Remind me to give you the full info on these guys.”

“Sure thing thanks.”

They exit the car to find Ms. Lalonde talking to a strange man. The man holds a cat firmly in his arms petting it despite the cat’s obvious attempts to escape. Ms. Lalonde steals the cat from the man’s arms, and the feline simmers. 

Karkat looks at the man strangely from a distance: brown hair, pale skin that desperately needs sunlight, and a shirt that looks like it came from some web comic. He pulls Jade back, “Keep away from him Harley.” She tries to free herself.

“Huh?”

“I think . . . I think he’s one of those anime fans or some sort of nerdy creep,” he whispers. “Watch out, he might want to cosplay with you.”

Jade pulls away from his grip, “Now why would you think that? Do I look anime to you?”

“Not really since they look better,” he responds making Jade glare, “you’re just a cop. And Grub knows there are cops shows, or cop based stories to role play.”

“Yeah I’ll keep that in mind,” Officer Harley doesn’t take him seriously and instead walks to Ms. Lalonde and the man. “Hello, I am Officer Harley.”

The man forgets the cat and looks at Jade as if she’s an alien, “Are you going to save me?”

Jade tilts her head confused, “Save you from what?”

“It’s nothing,” Ms. Lalonde interrupts trying to draw Jade’s attention away from the man.

“The meteors,” the man confines bending close to Jade’s face. Karkat starts to inch toward the humans.

“I’m sorry Officer,” Ms. Lalonde apologizes, “This is Andrew. He’s been waiting outside with my cat since I left.”

“Me and Jaspers had the best of times standing out here together,” Andrew obscures while petting the cat.

“Jaspers and I, Andrew,” she corrects. Ms. Lalonde returns to the officers, “He’s always at the bookstore, so I could trust him with my cat,” she continues, “despite Jaspers obvious protests.”

“So he was in the bookstore when you found the body?” Jade asks.

“Your boss lets you bring a cat?” Karkat intervenes, Jade elbows him annoyed. 

Andrew starts to make a statement, but Ms. Lalonde pushes his face back, “Officers, I’m sorry but Andrew here wouldn’t make a very good witness.” She calms down the cat by lightly stroking the creature, Jaspers softly purrs. “You see, Andrew has a severe case of schizophrenia.”

“Huh?”

“Yes Officer Harley, schizophrenia. He’s apparently had it for most of his life. The pitiful thing believes everyone is in some sort of universe-killing game.” Ms. Lalonde sighs and allows the cat to fall to the ground and jump to the store’s window, “He thinks I’m some sort of seer like we’re roleplaying.”

Karkat mutters to Jade, “I told you something was wrong with the guy’s think pan.” Jade pushes him away. 

“So as you can see officers, anything he tells you cannot be held accountable truth,” Ms. Lalonde summarizes. 

Jade exhales and adjusts her glasses, “I understand Ms. Lalonde.”

“I’m glad you understand.” The woman scans behind the officers, “I don’t know where his nurse is, I called her on my way to your department.” Officer Vantas looks at the blonde surprised. Ms. Lalonde continues, “I swear she must be drinking ag- Oh here she comes.” 

A small white car pulls over on the side walk, a short White human gets out of the car. She adjusts her headdress and snatches Andrew from the group. 

“Did he see the body?”

Ms. Lalonde gives a lazy smile, “Not to my knowledge Ms. Paint.”

The white woman relaxes, “I hope so, something like that would just keep him up at night excited.” Ms. Paint drags the man to her car and straps him in, she continues to talk with her back turned, “Sorry it took so long, Andrew tried painting the house earlier all over without my supervision. Finger painting isn’t supposed to be so messy.”

Ms. Lalonde sarcastically shakes her head to Jade, “Understandable Ms. Paint.”

“Sweetheart!” Andrew shouts inside the car causing the white to flinch, “Are you watching the stairs like I suggested?”

“Yes Andrew.”

“Oh!” he perks, “Did those bullies leave yet? I hate being stuck in a room all the time.”

Ms. Paint seats herself in the driver’s seat, “They are gone.” She closes her door keeping the others from hearing their odd conversation, and soon enough they were gone.

“So . . .” Jade turns back to Ms. Lalonde, “About that body-“

“Hold the fuck up!” Karkat yells physically putting himself between the two women. He turns to the short haired one, “Why did you call some lunatic’s wet nurse and not the police?”

Ms. Lalonde is chafed, “My superior ordered me to.”

“Your boss told you not to call the police?” Jade gathers.

“He wanted me to go in person. It’s strange I know, but I learn not to question the man who emoluments me,” she reasons. “I called him promptly after discovering the body, he told me to eradicate anyone still in the building and to walk to the police station.”

Karkat’s confused, “Why would he tell you that?”

Ms. Lalonde shrugs, “I’m assuming he wanted to look at the body himself beforehand, or at least that’s what he told me.”

“What!” Karkat runs through the doors swinging his head back and forth to look for the body. “Where is it?” he barks behind to Ms. Lalonde.

“In the Mystery section to your left.” Karkat dashes ahead while Jade and the blonde walk behind. 

“What’s the rush?” Jade loudly jokes.

Officer Vantas finds the body and stops in his tracks. Red blood is leaking from the awkwardly position man. His entire body looks like was spilled out. The blood seems to be darkest in the jugular area, and the man’s eyes are still wide open. Karkat backs off a little and turns to Jade who appears while Rose stays behind a bookcase. The troll maneuvers around the body, “Her boss could have tampered with the body or something. We need it preserved right.”

From behind the bookcase, Ms. Lalonde shouts out, “I’m sure he didn’t tampered with it, but wanted to see if he recognized the man.”

Officer Vantas rubs his face with a hand, “Either way I would rather you have him come in for questioning. Jade,” the woman jumps awake from her spacing out after seeing the body, “I need you to take pictures. Sollux should be here soon with the crew to search for evidence more deeply.” The troll backs away, red blood in a mess makes him queasy. 

“I’m sorry Officer Vantas,” Ms. Lalonde says watching the troll, “but I don’t know when my boss would be able to come. He’s a busy man.”

Karkat looks at her skeptical, “Too fucking busy for this?”

The woman rolls her eyes, “I’ll try my best, but no immediate promises.” After that Ms. Lalonde heads to the back of the building to use the bookstore’s phone to attempt a contact with her boss. 

Meanwhile a man runs into the store. Karkat takes one look before yelling, “What the fuck are you doing here? Store’s close, go home.”

The man takes his time gathering his breath trying to avoid obvious panting. His odd sunglasses steam up a little, “Where’s Rose?” he asks.

Officer Vantas growls, “Who are you?”

“Where’s Rose?” he continues.

“You don’t get to ask the questions here nook stain!” Karkat argues.

Jade finishes her photos and rushes to the scene, “What’s going on in here?”

The man jabs a finger at the troll, “This bozo won’t tell me where Rose is.” Karkat grumbles in response, and Jade has to pull him away.

She turns to the man confused, “Rose? Who’s that?”

“That would be me. Also my boss said he would try to find time,” Ms. Lalonde struts back into the area looking annoyed at the man. “I told you to stay away Dave.” 

“Come on Rose!” The man, Dave exaggerates, “You found a body. That’s exciting for me and dangerous for you. How could I not come?”

Rose sighs again, “I told you I was fine.” She turns to the bewildered officers, “This is an old friend of mine, Dave Strider. He comes here from time to time to hang out or ‘spend time with my sweet ass.’”

Officer Vantas frowns, “You called him but not us?” He waves his hand in front of Ms. Lalonde quickly, “Wait don’t answer that. Is he another psycho?”

Now Ms. Lalonde frowns, “No, but you shouldn’t call-“

Karkat cuts her off and turns to Dave, “Were you here today?”

“Yea-“ Karkat grabs Strider by the shoulder before he can finish and pushes him to a side of the room. 

The troll turns to his fellow officer while he is pushing the man, “Congratulations Strider, you get to be interrogated personally by me first for this case. Jade, you interrogate Ms. Lalonde while I deal with this cocky asshole.” 

Panicked, Jade throws her head around trying to find a place to work, but Rose directs the officer to a room with comfy chairs. 

While Karkat is still pushing, Sollux and other inspection officers enter the bookstore. Karkat keeps pushing the man but informs Officer Captor, “Just do your work; I’m dealing with this asshole. I’ll talk to you when I’m done.”

Dave throws his arms up, “Alright I’ll admit it! I stole a book here. But to be fair I thought it was a porno.” He drops his hands sadly, “It wasn’t.” Karkat shoves his head down and keeps walking.

The other inspection officers turn away from the two males to find the body; only Sollux remains bewildered, “What the fuck is going on today?”


	3. Chapter Three

Officer Harley seats herself in a large, green armchair in the empty room. Only a few other similar armchairs fill the room along with dim lighting. Ms. Lalonde turns on a tall lamp and sits facing Jade.

“My boss has a few of these rooms issued to provide stillness to read in,” she explains resting her hands on her crossed knees. “I imagined that this environment would suit you best for our conversation.”

Jade tries to sit comfortably in the chair but finds it a little too stiff, “It’s an interrogation,” she corrects.

The woman across gives a snuffed laugh, “Indeed.” Rose smiles and awaits the officer’s next move.

The brunette suddenly jumps in her seat, “Oh hold on for a second please.” Officer Harley reaches into her bag she had left on the floor. She mutters to herself as she pushes through the camera and spare ammo. “Ah-ha!” Jade grabs a small recording device from her bag. She presses a button at the top, and a light blinks on, “Would you mind if I record this?”

“Not at all.”

Jade grins, “Thanks, now you understand that you’re being recorded, and that could be used in court?”

Ms. Lalonde continues giving Jade a slight smile, “Of course.”

“Alright now let’s go,” Jade holds the recorder between her and Rose as they talk. “So you’ve given me the names of everyone you saw and recognized, correct?”

“Correct.”

“And none of them carried anything strange?”

“Not that I could see.”

Jade ponders this response, “Oh! What about that other guy?”

“Dave?”

“Yes him,” Jade places the recorder on her lap, “Full name please.”

“Dave Strider.”

“Great now what’s your relationship with him? Is he your boyfriend?”

Rose suddenly blushes a light red, “Of course not, he’s just a friend. What is this, an interview on the morning talk show?”

“Alright sorry about that,” Officer Harley apologizes. “It was an easy mistake seeing how much he seemed to care about you-“

“Dave Strider and I do not have romantic relations,” Ms. Lalonde huffs louder. She recognizes the mistake of the outburst and adjusts her thin hair band to help the awkward silence.

Jade watches her slightly frightened, “Okay, I’ll just move on then.”

The blonde straightens her blouse and skirt, “Yes perhaps that would be best.”

Officer Harley gives a small fake smile, “Okay now-“ A range of high pitch sounds and gurgles are made inside Jade’s bag. The word “squiddles” can be heard.

Jade turns red in the face and dashes to her bag; she quickly pulls out a cell phone and shuts it off. The noise stops. Officer Harley gives a forced laugh, “Haha, wow I forgot to turn my cell phone off, stupid telemarketers.” 

Rose tries to prevent a real smile from appearing, but fails, “You have a Squiddles ringtone?” 

“Yeah, I watched the show as a kid, and still love it.” Jade throws a hand over her face, “Oh I am messing this up, aren’t I?”

“No, you’re doing fine,” Rose comforts, “I actually watched the show as a child as well, but my affections for the tentacle creatures evolved for their originators.”

“Originators?”

“Yes Officer Harley, did you know that the Squiddles were inspired by the Eldritch gods?” 

Jade leans forward in her seat, “No way!”

Rose chuckles, “Yes way, and ever since I found out I have loved studying those beings.” 

“That’s awesome!” Jade claps her hands like an excited child, “Hey do you remember that episode where Princess Berryboo rides sea ponies with her friends and they get lost?”

“Indeed, but I always thought that they should have done the basics of survival instead of freaking out,” Rose reminisces.

“Isn’t it funny how kid shows forget that kind of stuff?” Jade and Rose lean forward to talk more about their favorite childhood show.

Five minutes later.

“Argh Princess Berryboo!” Jade yells standing on her armchair and holding her arm out like she carries a sword. “You’ll never stop me from stealing all of your little friends!”

Rose stands behind her armchair bracing for action, “You’ll never win Captain Plumbfoot! The power of the tangle buddies will always defeat you!” Rose stops bracing herself and looks seriously at Jade, “Shouldn’t I be Captain Plumbfoot? You’d make a better Princess Berrryboo.”

Jade pouts, “No way! I’m always made Princess Berryboo. At least I’m wearing a uniform like Captain Plumbfoot, and you’re dressed in pink and purple!”

“It’s lavender Officer Harley,” Rose corrects. 

Jade lightly laughs, “Hey feel free to call me Jade- what time is it?” Officer Harley looks at the room’s clock, “Shit! We lost track of the time.” The brunette quickly tries to gather her stuff back into her bag. She finds her recorder and glances at Rose, “So you have no idea who could have done it?”

“None at all.”

“Great,” Jade sarcasms. She quickly turns off the recorder and stuffs into the bag with the rest of her stuff. Jade looks at Rose and a quick thought hits her, “Can we exchange phone numbers?”

Rose looks at her confused, “What do you mean?”

“Well I had a great time just hanging out,” Jade explains, “I don’t have many friends here, so um yeah.” Rose amused gives Jade her number, and Jade does the same.

The two women leave the quite room, and Jade finds Officer Vantas shoving Dave Strider out the door. Officer Harley turns around to Rose to say that they’ll call her when the case is over. Rose complies and says she’ll try to get her boss to be questioned. Ms. Lalonde exits the bookstore soon afterwards.

Officer Harley walks over to Karkat who is watching the other officers gathering evidence from the corpse, “How’d it go?”

The troll looks over at the human and lights a cigarette, “You want to know how it fucking went?” 

Five minutes earlier.

“I’m not talking without a lawyer,” Dave says to the troll. The human lounges in a hard chair, positioning his feet on top of a wooden table.

Karkat rubs his face, “Strider I just want you to tell me who you fucking saw. I’ve asked five times!” his voice raised itself in the end.

“I ain’t telling you shit. Knowing the cops, you’ll just turn it against me and send me in jail. So some asshole can then coddle me at night and say how sexy I am. I already know that I’m a fucking sex god. I don’t need someone to tell me.” Dave gives a quick look at the troll, “You might need to pay someone for that though.” 

Karkat shoves his hands into his face and screams. 

Dave watches the troll’s tantrum, “Chill man, you’ll die faster if you’re like that. And you don’t look like you have many years left.”

Present Time.

“The ignoramus ended with the shittiest rap I had ever heard, and I’ve heard Gamzee rap,” Officer Vantas explains. “At least tell me you were more successful that I was. I need something to keep this stress vein from popping in my think pan.”

Officer Harley sweats a little, “Yup! I totally got a great interrogation and stuff!” Karkat looks at her suspicious. “Okay, I got nothing new. I really doubt that either of them know anything about this.”

Officer Captor walks up to the duo, “Sup.”

Karkat gets straight to business, “Did you find anything?”

Sollux presents a plastic bag with a wallet inside, “His name is, or was, Taylor Williams: black hair, blue eyes, age thirty-two, human and he lives in the city. We have his address written down.” Officer Vantas looks confused.

“You found nothing else?” Sollux shakes his head, and Karkat scratches behind his horns, “Hmm, well that’s going to make this harder.”

“There’s going to need to be a few days for a full autopsy,” Officer Captor explains, “In that time I think you guys should talk to his family.”

Jade turns to Sollux surprised, “Family?”

“Yeah, I had Kanaya look him up, and he has a family.” Karkat starts to say something, but Sollux cuts him off, “Yes I’m making you two see the family. It’s your case, so you deal with it.”

Officer Vantas glares, “Seriously Sollux? You know how I feel about that. It fucking sucks.”

The lisp-y troll only shrugs, “Someone needs to do it.” He hands Jade a small piece of paper, “That’s the address, and I suggest you leave now.”

Karkat turns around and leaves the building with Jade following shortly behind. All the troll can think about is finishing this meeting as soon as possible.

After a mute drive to their destination, Officer Vantas and Harley pull up to an attractive two-story house in the residential area of Skaia. After both officer exit the cop car, Karkat pulls his partner aside.

“Listen Harley, just let me do the talking. You’ve never done this before, right?” She nods. “Yeah just watch them to make sure they don’t do anything fucking crazy.” Karkat walks ahead and finishes his cigarette before smashing it into a well groomed lawn. 

A loud, low beeping noise starts in Karkat’s pocket. He grabs out his cell phone and turns it off, “Fucking telemarketers. Don’t they know that I have a life?”

The troll presses a figure on the door bell and waits to be answered. A raven-haired woman in her early thirties opens the door. She becomes nervous upon seeing the two officers, “Anything I can do for you, officer? Is it the annual fund raiser?” she says to Karkat who stands closest to her.

He responds, “Are you Mrs. Williams?” She slowly nods her head. “I’m Officer Vantas and this is Officer Harley. May we please come in? We have something important we need to talk to you about.” 

Still nervous, the woman lets the partners into her house. Inside the house is well kept furniture, and a floor littered with plastic toys, “I’m sorry,” Mrs. Williams pardons, “Philip is still in school and hasn’t cleaned up yet. Oh little boys.” She gives an awkward laugh.

Karkat finds lounge seats and suggest that they take them. The woman now sits in a leather armchair; while the two officers share a matching loveseat. 

“Mrs. Williams,” Officer Vantas begins, “I regret to inform you that your husband is dead.” 

She stares at him, “. . . What?”

“We found his body in a bookstore on First Billiards Street. We aren’t a hundred percent sure of who or what killed him, but we intend to find out.” The woman doesn’t say  
anything, so Karkat continues, “We need to know if you have any idea what could have killed him.”

The woman continues to look at the troll. Not moving, not talking, and barely breathing. After a minute of this silence does she make a sound. And it’s laughter.

She cackles in the house, filling up the room, “Oh you almost had me there. Am I getting pranked on television or something?”

Jade tries to move to comfort the woman, but Karkat stops her, “No Mrs. Williams, you’re not.”

The woman continues to howl, “Of course I am, Taylor is going to pick up milk tonight. Besides, he is supposed to be on the other side of town.” She slaps Karkat’s knee, “Are you an actor?”

Karkat rubs his knee that was slapped a bit too hard, “No Mrs. Williams, I’m Officer Vantas of Skaian police. I need to know if you can give us any leads at all.” The woman just laughs at them.

Jade watches the woman petrified, it was remarkable how much this woman would deny her husband’s death.

Karkat jerks on Jade’s shoulder, “We should go,” he whispers. Jade agrees and follows him out. When the two are entering their car, Mrs. Williams calls out to them while leaning on the door frame, “You two make sure my husband comes home,” she laughs loudly into the street. “Oh and make sure to kill the bastard who’s keeping him from me. Promise?”

The troll sighs, “Mrs. Williams I can’t promise-“

“You fucking promise me right now!” she screams into the street.

Karkat looks at the woman frozen in a stance, “We’ll try our best.” 

The officer quickly climbs into the car and drives away from the woman. Jade takes deep breaths, “What was that?”

Her partner hastily lights a cigarette, “Stages of fucking grief. Everyone is different, but she was really into denial. However it seems that she recognized what was going on in the end. Somewhat. Just be glad that we didn’t see anger back there. That is seriously fucked up.”

Frustrated, Jade pulls on her hair, “We still have no leads!”

“Hopefully the autopsy will reveal something for us,” Karkat reasons.

“But it’ll take a few days right?” Jade asks. Karkat gives an affirmative noise. “Then we’ll just have to wait until then,” Jade looks out the window dramatically while thinking about the corpse.

Karkat chuckles breaking her concentration, “At least it beats whatever Vriska is doing.”


	4. Chapter Four

Officer Captor scampers into the police department with a folder in tow. His destination is Officers Harley and Vantas who are currently sitting at their desk working. When Karkat can hear the yellow blood’s panting, he turns away from his work.

“Please tell me that’s the fucking results,” the troll begs.

At reaching the end of his run, Officer Captor leans on Karkat’s desk for suppport, “Yeah, I got it.” He hands it to Karkat before collapsing on the floor. 

Karkat carefully inspects it, “Did you read it?”

“No,” Sollux gasps, “I saved it for you guys. So for all that is decent in this shit hole read it!”

“Come on Karkat,” Jade encourages at her desk, “It’s been three days! We need to get a move on already.”

Officer Vantas waves her away, “Fine, fucking fine I’ll read it.” He flips the folder open and reads the results to himself. “I don’t believe it.”

Jade sits at the edge of her seat, “What is it?”

Karkat looks at her straight in the eye, “It’s nothing. Only junk.” He throws the folder on his desk, and Sollux groans in frustration.

However Jade doesn’t give up so soon, “How can it be junk? Maybe you aren’t thinking hard enough? Let me see!” She grabs the folder from Karkat’s desk and looks through it.

“You won’t find anything Jade. It just says a stab to the throat with a common knife,” Karkat replays. “That knife could be in any number of houses in fucking Skaia!” Officer Vantas rubs the back of his head, “How could it take those assholes three fucking days to find that out?”

“Maybe,” Sollux mutters on the floor, “they had a lot of bodies to autopsy.”

Karkat lightly kicks the back of Sollux’s head, “There are enough bodies to delay a murder case in Skaia?”

“Skaia is a big city,” Officer Captor argues. 

“And you’re a fucking idiot, Captor” Officer Vantas retorts. 

Chief Zahhak walks past them. “Mr. Captor get off the floor, and Mr. Vantas watch the language,” he scorns. “We are a serving the fine citizens of Skaia, so try to act appropriate if you will.” The indigo blooded troll walks off into his office.

Sollux picks himself up, “What does that even mean?”

“Like I know, probably trying to tell us to behave ‘above our blood caste,’” Karkat sits down in his chair. “I’ve given up trying to understand the guy.”

“Right,” Sollux agrees. “I need to go do some paperwork; Jeanie was being a bitch about forgetting it again.” The two trolls say goodbye as one walks away.

Karkat was about to ask Jade if she had found anything when he heard her giggle. Now Karkat isn’t a funny troll, but he knows an autopsy report is not funny in the slightest. Officer Vantas turns around to discover that Jade had abandoned the file and was focusing on her computer. He creeps up behind her to find on her screen . . . really shitty drawings. 

“What the fuck are you reading Harley?”

The woman jumps in her seat and tries to turn off the computer, “Oh nothing! Nothing at all!”

Karkat ticks his tongue, “Tisk tisk Harley, you know that using government issued computers for personal use is a ‘no-no.’”

His partner stands up from her chair, “Oh come on! I know that you constantly waste time!”

The troll rolls his eyes, “Possibly, but I’m your superior.”

“We’re partners!”

“That doesn’t mean we are equal, I have way more fucking experience than you do. . I’m your mentor in this relationship.”

Jade rolls her eyes, a trait that has occurred more often recently, “Like you teach me anything.”

Karkat responds with a glare, “Maybe I should because from what I can see, you’re slipping!” 

“Excuse me?”

The angry troll turns to his desk and pulls out a recording device from a drawer, “Look what I found.” He almost presses the button, but Jade grabs his hand.

“Please, I know that I screwed it up. I’m sorry,” she begs, “but I don’t have that many friends outside of work. It’s nice to talk to someone that isn’t always on edge all the time!”

“Jade you should know better than to socialize with people involved with a case.” Karkat sighs, “So you’ve been hanging out with Ms. Lalonde?”

“Yeah a little, she even showed me this hilarious comic that her friend Dave-“

Karkat jerks surprised, “Strider!? That asshole!?”

“He’s a nice guy Karkat-“

“No he’s an asshole, and you shouldn’t associate with him,” the troll orders.

Jade cringes her hands, “You’re not my dad!”

“Yeah well who would want to be!” he yells back. “A bratty child like you; putting up with you must have given him heart failures till he died!” 

Jade backs off hurt, and Karkat realizes that he has gone too far. He tries to give a comforting hand, but Jade pushes it away and rushes to what he can only assume to be the female’s bathroom.

Fifteen minutes later she returns with slightly sore eyes to watch Karkat working on a chart. The troll sees that she has returned so he abandons his work to amend his mistakes.

“I’m sorry Jade, for a lot of shit I said and done. I’ve realized that I was acting like a loser who can’t keep his shit together again and that I haven’t been helping you like I was supposed to from day one.” Karkat takes a deep breath and gawkily scratches his head, “I want to fix that last part now.” He shows Jade the chart he was working on. It has an assortment of faces on it. “It’s about time that I fill your think pan with special information about the Felt.”

Jade doesn’t respond but takes a deeper look into the chart. Quickly crafted, the chart has strange faces of green men on it, “Who are these people?”

Officer Vantas removes the cap of a red marker, “These people are known head members of the Felt. There are fifteen head members with fifteen divisions.” Karkat underlines the title, Felt, “Now not much is known about the Felt. A mafia that’s been around for as long as Skaia, and has always been opposite to the Midnight Crew.”

Jade lightly coughs, “Why are they-“

“Green?” Karkat grabs a chair and turns to the chart pointing at several pictures, “As you can see, these pictures were taken from bits of other photos with different backgrounds. Now I’m telling you that because these guys are fucking liars. They aren’t green at all but are actually white. It sort of works with the duality with the Midnight Crew, but Whites are recognized more as being . . good. So as you can imagine that didn’t sit well with the Felt. And going back to the different backgrounds, they are all in a special Felt buildings that has built-in green lights. Those lights practically color their white skin.”

“That ridiculous. Did they take that out of the Wizard of Oz?”

Karkat smirks, “Probably, but it’s a huge confidence booster for their dying esteem. Without the lights, the Felt is on edge.” Officer Vantas draws a small line on the picture in the top left, right under the man’s hat, “All members of the Felt have these numbers symbolizing their position. The number doesn’t really mean anything for rank, but it shows recognition for other members. Every head member that you see here has their own division and members that they control. These sub-members all wear green buttons that show who commands them.”

“But who controls the head members?” Officer Harley interrupts. “And who’s that in the middle?” in the middle of the chart of green men rested a blank picture.

“Well that’s easy enough to answer because the answers are the fucking same, we have no fucking idea.”

“None?”

“We’ve heard rumors that the one in the middle might control the entire group, or he works alone because we haven’t seen anyone with a green eight prancing around.” Karkat taps his fingers across his chin, “And that’s saying Eight even exists, and the Felt isn’t just fucking with us like it’s all a game.”

Jade groans, “And we don’t even know if Eight is the head honcho- This is frustrating!”

“You’re telling me, I’ve been working on this since I was a rookie.” Karkat scratches the back of his horns, “We need to keep this school train moving. Alright now I need to tell you about the Felt Territory itself. Same size as the Midnight Crew and everything, but the Felt Territory is more tightly knit. Almost everything is run by the Felt.” Karkat points to the member with the one, “Mr. Itchy runs a well-run coffee shop, and Mr. Matchsticks is the Fire police chief in that area. Not to mention Mr. Eggs and Mr. Biscuits run a decent diner. The Felt is able to cover every nook and cranny in their territory to avoid the government’s help. And that’s just how they like it.”

Jade leans back in her chair processing, “So do you think the Felt caused this?”

Karkat follows her action, “Could be, except that would mean someone in the Felt fucked up, and the others allowed it. Doesn’t make much sense.” 

“There is the bookstore owner. It is in Felt Territory; which you said was basically run by the Felt. Maybe he has something to do with it.”

“I don’t think so Jade, all Felt-owned buildings have green lights. The bookstore definitely did not have green lights,” Karkat explains. “And why do that to your own bookstore?”

“What about the Midnight Crew? They hate the Felt.”

“That’s what I thought; except the Crew doesn’t care for framing. The killing method was completely in their flair, but they have no reason to avoid us at this point. However, I thought before that they wanted to intimidate the Felt.” Karkat rubs his face, “But there was no card. The Crew always leaves a card.”

Officer Harley digests, “What if the Crew wanted to be mysterious-“

“Not their style at all.”

Jade slaps the table, “What about that SJ guy from a few months ago?”

“Hmm,” Karkat clicks his teeth, “We don’t have any reason to believe the guy is a murderer. He’s only been drug dealing, but I like where you’re going Harley.” Jade smiles at the compliment. 

“Well what if we are wrong all together?”

“What do you mean Jade?”

The woman fiddles with her fingers, “What if it was just a random murder, and someone just dumped the body in the bookstore?”

“I don’t think so,” Karkat responds while shaking his head, “It’s too weird for that, and that would destroy a lot of connections and reasoning. In a city with two or possibly three full scale mafias, random murder isn’t likely.”

Jade collapses in her seat, “So we have nothing again until Rose’s boss shows up for questioning?”

“Yup,” Karkat picks up the chart. “Time to do some more mindless work.”

“Wait,” Jade grabs his arm, “Can I have that?”

The troll hands it off, “Glad to see someone appreciate my work.”

She giggles, “Thanks for helping me. You’re not a bad mentor when you actually try.” Karkat rolls his eyes.

“Thanks Jade, I’ll keep that in mind.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Updates will be delayed for a short time.


	5. Chapter Five

Receptionist Kanaya Maryam sits at her desk. It’s been a quiet work day comparable to the ones with the rude citizens that just barge in past her; like that blonde woman from a week ago. Grub she makes Kanaya’s skin itch! 

Ms. Maryam smiles at herself reminiscing, Ms. Harley and Mr. Vantas have actually finished their paperwork in their spare time. Even Mr. Vantas tried to hide his satisfaction while Ms. Harley jumped up and down from a job well done. The receptionist is to deliver the papers to Chief Zahhak by the end of the day. The two officers mentioned drinking later to celebrate, but their jade friend modestly denied. Ms. Maryam wonders what she’ll do instead.

The front doors open by an unfamiliar man. He is a white with the strangest eyes that Ms. Maryam has ever seen. They were so squinted, that she couldn’t see the eyeballs. How does he even walk? 

He saunters over to the receptionist; the man grabs a white handkerchief from his neon green coat to pat his bald head. “Excuse me Ms. Maryam.”

Kanaya forgot for a brief second that her name is on her desk, “Yes sir, how may I help you?”

“I’m here to see Ms. Jade Harley and Mr. Karkat Vantas,” his words were slow but mesmerizing. Kanaya found herself entranced by his words and shaking her head to awake. 

“I’m sorry, do you have an appointment?” His slight frown made her want to allow an exemption, but she must follow procedure. 

“Regrettably I do not. However, I’m sure the two esteemed officers would like to see me.”

“Why?” Kanaya then blushed jade; it is not her place to ask. The affect this man has is haunting. “I’m sorry; I’ll just buzz for them now.”

“Thank you Ms. Maryam.”

She gives a half smile and presses the buzzer’s button for Officer Vantas, “Mr. Vantas?”

“What?” he yells.

“Someone is here to see you and Ms. Harley.”

“Who the fuck is it?” The strange man chuckles at the troll.

Kanaya realizes that she had forgotten to ask but she bends closer to the telephone, “Please come Mr. Vantas.” He hangs up abruptly after that.

But less than a minute later Karkat comes to Kanaya’s desk with Jade beside him. “What’s the deal Kanaya?” He stares at the white man who is around the troll’s height; which isn’t too tall. “Who are you?”

“I, Mr. Vantas am Doctor Scratch: Professor of Psychology in Skaian College and proud owner of the bookstore on First Billiards Street. My student, Ms. Lalonde was insistent that I handle this matter.”

Jade’s eyes go wide, “Oh! You’re finally here.”

“It’s been a fucking week,” Karkat’s scowl deepens. “What took you so long?

“I’m a very busy man,” Dr. Scratch explains, “so please understand why I want to end this meeting quickly.” The man somehow looks down on the officers like children, “I am ending this case as of now.”

“Wh-What!” Jade stammers.

Officer Vantas steps up close to the man, “You have no authority for that.”

“Actually I do Mr. Vantas, I privately own the only sliver chance of evidence that you have left, and I will forbid anymore investigation in my shop.”

“We’ll get a search warrant,” Officer Harley argues.

“Ms. Harley, evidently you do not understand my status in Skaia. Trust me; you will not have any way to continue this investigation.”

Karkat grimaces, “Just who do you think you are?”

The professor’s thin eyebrows scrunch, “I could ask you the same thing. Who do you two think you are? You’re just officers: lonely, bottom of the bin officers. You’re not even worthy to handle big cases except to clean up the filth you lay with. All you’re supposed to do is control traffic and give support to higher ups. Where are your detectives? They should be handling this case, not you.”

Jade turns to Karkat desperate for answers. He merely mutters, “We’re on a budget.”

“A budget, of course Mr. Vantas. Tell me; is that your excuse to everything?”

“We’re not going to give up Scratch,” Karkat growls.

“Oh yes you are. Don’t worry about it Mr. Vantas, it’s not like you haven’t turned a blind eye before.”

Officer Vantas steps away from the man, “How do you-“

“Good bye Mr. Vantas, Ms. Harley,” Doc Scratch turns to Kanaya, “and you Ms. Maryam.” The peculiar human then leaves the police station. 

“Wait!” Karkat interjects at the exiting man, “Did you mess with the body?”

Dr. Scratch smiled condescending at the troll, “Of course not, what kind of man do you think I am?” He turns back around and twiddles his fingers goodbye.

Kanaya tries to calm her shaking hands, “What just happened?”

The other troll ignores her, “Come on Jade, we need to talk.” He grabs her by the wrist and pulls her back to his desk. 

“What do we do now?”

Karkat sighs and rubs his forehead, “I don’t know Jade, I don’t think we can continue this. We’ll have to close this case.”

“What! But don’t you think that Scratch butt-head is with the Felt?”

“Damn it Harley, of course that’s what I think. He completely fits the characteristics of the Felt, but we don’t have proof, and he probably could avoid us.” Karkat quickly grabs a cigarette, “Fucking government. I can’t trust it for one fucking second.”

Jade tries to touch his shoulder, “Calm down Karkat.” Her partner takes a few deep breaths with his fresh smoke.

“You know how you thought the Felt stole an idea from the shit filled Wizard of Oz?” Jade nods. “Well I think we found the Wizard.”

Time passes in the police department. The two officers sent notice that the case was closed after trying to find alternatives for information and found nothing. Around the end of their work day, they were exhausted and ended up just waiting to be excused to go home.

However, someone burst into the police department and ran past the now angered receptionist. The intruder finds Officer Vantas smoking and screams at him. The surprised troll drops his cigarette.

“You lied to me!”

Karkat looks carefully at the woman coming closer to him, “Mrs. Williams?”

The woman has tears running down her face as she gets nearer to the troll, “You lied to me!”

“Mrs. Williams, I told you that I couldn’t promise you anything.”

“You fucking lied to me you monster!”

Jade tries to comfort the woman, “Please Mrs. Williams, you’re hysterical.”

“Get off of me you tramp!” The widow turns back to Officer Vantas, “Do you know what it’s like to tell you sons that their dad is dead? ‘He was going to teach me to tie my shoes. He was going to help me ride my bike. H-How will I learn to shave now? Wh-Why would s-someone kill d-da-daddy?’ Do you know what that’s like to have your son’s lives destroyed in a few seconds?”

Karkat can’t answer, “I don-“

“Oh right, because you’re a troll, what a heartless creature! Like you would ever understand what a family is!”

“Mrs. Williams I don’t want you to be escorted-“

“How do you think we feel now that we’ll never get closure? It was the only fucking thing we had left! The only fucking thing! And you ruined it!”

“I didn’t- couldn’t-“

The woman sobs, “Fuck you monster. Fuck you.” She collapses to the floor weeping. Two officers come from behind her to pull her back outside the department. Mrs. Williams never stopped crying.

Karkat sighs after the mess, “Jade, I think I could use a drink now.”

The two officers soon arrive at a small tavern where they could drink beers together at the bar.

“I feel like shit Jade.”

His partner gives him a half-hug, “I wish that this never happened. Thank you for taking the fall, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have been as strong.”

Karkat alternates from drinking to smoking, “Well you’re still new. You’ll get practice.”

“How do you put up with it?”

The troll raises his glass and cigarette, “What do you think? Besides, it was worst when I was covering up for the Midnight Crew. I knew then that it was my entire fault. Is it now?”

“No of course not, you’re a good man-er troll.” Jade hesitates then, but she holds lazy Karkat’s forehead close to her and kisses it. 

He pushes away, “Yuck Harley, what’s your problem?” Jade giggles as Karkat wipes his forehead with his sleeve. 

“Hey Al!” a familiar voice at the tavern’s entrance screams, “Get me the usual!”

Karkat slams his head on the counter, “Oh Grub no.”

The bartender, Al smiles, “Sure thing Vriska.”

The spider troll finds her ‘friends,’ “Hey look who’s here!” She walks over and wraps an arm around Karkat, “Why so sad Nubs?”

“Get the fuck off me!” He pushes her away.

“Come one Vriska, Karkat has had a rough day. You can sit by me.” The blue blooded troll accepts Jade’s offer.

“Aren’t you supposed to be helping what’s-his-name?” Karkat asks.

Vriska laughs, “He said he didn’t need my help anymore! You can call him if you want.”

The other troll squints suspiciously at her but turns away, “Forget it, I don’t fucking care anymore. Hope you learned your stupid lesson.”

“Aww, did someone lose his binky?”

“We had a murder case after you left Vriska,” Jade explains. “It was closed down today by some jerk face called Dr. Scratch.”

Vriska stops laughing suddenly, “Did you say Scratch?”

“Yeah do you know him?”

“N-Not closely, but I’m glad you did what he said.” She looks down on the counter, “That man has a way to get people to do whatever he wants and make it seem like it was their idea.” Vriska gets her beer and sips it, “Don’t mess with him.”

“Thanks for being so informative Vriska,” Karkat mocks. 

Jade keeps the spider troll back from starting a fight, “Come on everyone. Let’s calm down. We finished our paperwork and we are together again. Tomorrow’s a new day, so let’s forget this one!” The three of them raise their glasses and drink their sorrows away.

But someone across Skaia is not celebrating. Rather that someone sits in his armchair next to a blazing fire.

“Let’s see, a Jack of Spades playing card; well that’s easy to burn.” A small card is tossed into the fire. “A sharp knife I see, I guess it will burn over time; all things do.” A blood stained knife is tossed into the fire. “And finally a Felt button. Goodbye Mr. Williams.” A neon green button with the number two is destroyed by the flames.

A message is made, “Debra, please send a ham to the family of Mr. Williams. I’m sure they would appreciate it.”

“Will do Dr. Scratch.” 

The man turns back to the fire. It’s a misfortunate consequence that happens when joining the Felt sometimes. But Mr. Williams’s chances were not high especially if you are in Mr. Doze’s division. The second division is known to be kidnapped easily. It also seems that Mr. Slick had no intention for keeping Mr. Williams alive. A pity, the man seemed to have so much potential. Dr. Scratch recalls something.

“Debra, please send a bouquet of roses to Ms. Lalonde.”

“She will find them at her work station in the morning, Dr. Scratch.”

The doctor returns to his fire. He knows that it would be best to have his ‘special’ student on friendlier terms with him again. He enjoys her company. Ms. Lalonde is the only reason he tolerated those kids. The nerve they have to challenge him. At least the doctor knows that everyone has a breaking point; only a matter of time. He did relish his little prank on them today. The doctor doesn’t lie, but he does favor a decent joke or two.

“Dr. Scratch,” the secretary buzzes, “You six o’clock appointment is here.”

“Send him in Debra, and you can go home.”

“Goodnight Dr. Scratch.”

The man turns around in his green chair to face his desk. A signal of power that intimidates weaker men; a situation that is going to occur now.

Dr. Scratch’s appointment enters the green furnished room. A sea dweller troll with an obnoxious cape that tries to make him seem important. The doctor knows better.

“Good evening Mr. Ampora, I’m glad you found time for this meeting.” He offers a bowl of sugared fish that his appointment tentatively declines.

The troll sits down on a green chair in front of the desk, “Well I’ve wanted to come for quite some time now.”

“Truly. Now tell me, why do you want to join the Felt?”

“I need a change in my life. I need to move on.”

The man sighs, “Mr. Ampora, the Felt is not some solution to your petty problems. If you don’t have a better reason, then I’ll have to ask you to leave.”

“But I have money!”

“True, but the reality is the Felt has more money than what you could ever provide. Right now I’m merely amusing you.” He taps his fingers together patiently. 

The caped creature is anxious, “Have you seen this world? Trolls and humans integrating, trolls dissolving their blood caste, it’s disgusting. The love of my life left me for a yellow blood like I was garbage.”

“That’s not what I heard.”

The troll ignores him, “I’m a troll with nothing to lose, and all I want to gain is revenge.”

“Revenge Mr. Ampora?”

“I want Fef to come back pleading for me to take her. On her knees begging me to take her away from the low bloods.” The aquatic troll squeezes his hands tightly before releasing them, “And I heard that the Felt has the ability to do that. I’m a troll with nothing to lose, but everything to gain.”

Doctor Scratch goes back into his chair, “Congratulations Mr. Ampora, you are now part of the Felt.” The sea dweller sighs in relief. “Now you’ll be under my division, and you know better than to tell anyone about us. If we for one second that you have betrayed us,” he leans over his desk, “you will be destroyed personally. Do you understand?”

“I understand, so what’s the plan.” Mr. Ampora remains unfazed surprisingly to the doctor. Perhaps this little fish can be of some use. The doctor relaxes.

“There is a plan, and you will be informed for what you need to know from time to time. You should understand why I can’t tell you everything right now.”

Mr. Ampora frowns, “Fine, but what can you tell me?”

The doctor smiles and his bright green eyes open wide for the first time in a long while, “We’ll have a visitor soon, and everyone will be excited to meet her.”


End file.
